1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a charging connector for an electric vehicle, and more particularly to a connector construction in which two power receiving portions (that is, an alternating current receiving portion and a direct current receiving portion) are combined into a single structure.
2. Related Art
An electric vehicle can travel by driving a DC motor through a charged, self-contained power source (charging battery) mounted on the vehicle. The self-contained power source is charged by a power feed apparatus usually installed at a charging station as in the refueling of a gasoline vehicle. The charging will now be described with reference to FIG. 7 in connection with Japanese Patent Examined Publication No. 60-24539. A feeder connector 103A, connected to a feeder cord 102 extending from a power feed apparatus 101, is connected to a power receiving connector 103B of a vehicle 104, so that an electric power is supplied to a self-contained battery 106 electrically connected to the power receiving connector 103B.
One example of a charging connector is disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Unexamined Publication No. 4-124774. The connector disclosed in this publication will now be described with reference to FIG. 8. The charging connector includes a receptacle 50 for mounting on a vehicle body, and a plug 70 for connection to a power source. The receptacle 50 includes a cylindrical tubular body 51 with a closed bottom, a plurality of male connection terminals 52 provided in a projected manner within the tubular body 51, and a closure lid 53 for openably closing an open end 51a of the tubular body 51. A flange 54 for mounting on the vehicle body is formed integrally at the open end 51a of the tubular body 51 of the receptacle 50.
The plug 70 includes a fitting shaft portion 71 for being removably fitted in the tubular body 51, and an abutment step portion 73 for abutment against the open end 51a upon fitting of the fitting shaft portion 71, the fitting shaft portion 71 having connection holes 72 for receiving the male connection terminals 52, respectively.
With this construction, in view of the condition of use, the charging connector for the electric vehicle has a sufficient strength to withstand repeated connecting and disconnecting operations, and also has an excellent waterproof ability.
Problems with an electric vehicle are that a travel distance achieved by one charging operation (travel distance for one charging operation) is not entirely satisfactory, and that the number of charging stations is small. Therefore, the conventional electric vehicle is usually equipped with a power receiving portion for quick charging (DC 150.about.400 A) at a charging station and a power receiving portion for low-speed charging by a commercial power source (for example, AC 240 V) at home.
An electric vehicle, having such dual circuit charging means, will now be described with reference to FIG. 9. A self-contained battery 110 mounted on the vehicle has a power receiving connector (power receiving portion) 112A for a charging station which connector is connected to the battery via a joint box 111, and a power receiving connector (power receiving portion) 114A for a commercial power source which connector is connected to the battery via the joint box 111 and a charger 113 mounted on the vehicle. The battery can be charged through a feeder connector 112B of a charger 115 at the charging station (DC power source) and also through a feeder connector 114B at home (AC power source).
With this construction, the electric vehicle can be charged selectively by the commercial power source at home and at the charging station, and therefore the problem is overcome.
In the above construction, however, since the power receiving portions for charging the self-contained battery must be provided respectively at two locations in the vehicle, there has been a problem from the viewpoint of the installation space. Particularly, because of the features of the above connectors, such as a waterproof design, their size is increased, so that the installation space is increased, and therefore the above problem is not negligible.
Furthermore, as a result of an erroneous connection of the charging connector, the direct current and the alternating current may be fed erroneously.